sanden.
/ˈsandeɪ/, /ˈsɑːndeɪ/, U.S. /ˈsɑnˌdeɪ/, /ˈsænˌdeɪ/, West African English /ˈsande/ The name of a cult for women based on secret rites of initiation, etc., widespread amongst tribes in Sierra Leone and Liberia. See also Poro n.
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society > faith > sect > non-Christian religions > other non-Christian sects > Sande > [noun]
sande1803
1803 T. Winterbottom Acct. Native Africans Sierra Leone II. 235 In the river Sherbró,..which is inhabited by Bulloms, there is a society of girls called Sandee girls, who, besides being initiated into various mysteries, are instructed to dance in public.
1930 Harvard Afr. Exped. 1926–27 I. v. 83 Most of the tribes in Liberia still practice certain ceremonies connected with the initiation of both boys and girls in the bush schools... The..girls' school is known as sande.
1954 R. Lewis Sierra Leone i. 9 Quite a number of the mauve- and green-uniformed but nubile-looking schoolgirls who walk in crocodile through the streets will be rushed through Sande in the holidays.
1968 Harris & Sawyer Springs of Mende Belief i. 2 Sande..plays a more restricted role in the community. Its main concern is to cultivate in adult women the qualities of wifehood and motherhood.
1968 Harris & Sawyer Springs of Mende Belief vi. 104 This accusation..includes..any attempts to watch the masked sande dancers remove their head-piece.
This entry has not yet been fully updated (first published 1982; most recently modified version published online March 2022).
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